Long Beach IMSA: Cadillac pips BMW in twice red-flagged practice

Derani lapped his Action Express-run Cadillac V-Series.R in 1m13.477s around the 1.9-mile temporary circuit in the one-hour session.

The GTP class is using Michelin’s soft-compound tire at Long Beach for the first time outside of Daytona night running, and an extra set has been made available for Saturday’s 100-minute race.

Ricky Taylor made an early error in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06, going straight on at Turn 6 before rejoining. Towards the end of the session his stable-mate Louis Deletraz did exactly the same in the #40.

Nick Tandy led the way in the opening exchanges, lapping the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 – which won here last year following a bold tire strategy gamble – in 1m14.056s.

Felipe Nasr made it a PPM 1-2 after 10 minutes, albeit almost a second off Tandy’s pace. Jack Aitken split their party in the #31 AXR Cadillac V-Series.R, getting within 0.197s of P1, before Sebastien Bourdais brought the #01 Ganassi-run Caddy into the mix, a further tenth back.

Bourdais – who crashed out at the first corner here last year – snatched the top spot after 22 minutes with a 1m13.531s, eclipsing Tandy by half a second.

Following two red flags for GTD cars crashing, the pacesetting Cadillac didn’t run again – which meant it recorded the least laps of any cars in the field. That opened the door to Derani to snatch the quickest time of the day at 1m13.477s, 0.054s quicker than Bourdais.

Connor De Phillippi (RLL BMW M Hybrid) jumped up to second on the final lap of the session, just 0.026s off Derani’s pace. Bourdais remained third, ahead of Tandy and the second BMW of Philipp Eng.

Nasr fell to sixth from Richard Westbrook (JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963) and Mike Rockenfeller, who has joined Gianmaria Bruni this weekend in Proton’s 963.

The pair of WTRA Acuras languished at the tail of the GTP class, with Filipe Albuquerque shading Deletraz by 0.047s but the pair of them were 1.8s off the pace.

#13 AWA Corvette C8.R GTD: Orey Fidani, Matthew Bell (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

Corvette fastest in GTD

In GTD, with no Pro class cars allowed to race this weekend, Frederik Schandorff set the early pace in the #70 McLaren 720 before being pipped by Loris Spinelli’s Lamborghini and the Lexus of Jack Hawksworth (who has been seconded into the #12).

Hawksworth's quickest lap of 1m19.516s was challenged by Schandorff, who got within 0.045s of the Lexus on his second flying tour.

Brendan Iribe then crashed the Inception McLaren into the Turn 1 tirewall, causing a red flag.

Mikael Grenier was the next driver to go into the wall, shunting his Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes at Turn 9 and causing another stoppage a few minutes after the restart.

After the red flags were done, Matt Bell leapt to the top of the times in his AWA-run Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Bell then had a big moment at Turn 5 and slowly rejoined.

Parker Thompson took second in the #89 Lexus RC F with a lap of 1m19.055s set right at the end of the session, just pipping Kyle Marcelli (#45 Lamborghini) and Hawksworth by a tenth of a second.

Free practice two kicks off at 3:50pm local time for a 90-minute session.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information
Cla	Drivers	#	Chassis	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	P. Derani J. Aitken Whelen Cadillac Racing	31	Cadillac V-Series.R	30	1'13.477		96.451
2	C. de Phillippi N. Yelloly BMW M Team RLL	25	BMW M Hybrid V8	28	+0.026 1'13.503	0.026	96.417
3	R. van der Zande S. Bourdais Cadillac Racing	01	Cadillac V-Series.R	9	+0.054 1'13.531	0.028	96.381
4	N. Tandy M. Jaminet Porsche Penske Motorsport	6	Porsche 963	28	+0.579 1'14.056	0.525	95.697
5	J. Krohn P. Eng BMW M Team RLL	24	BMW M Hybrid V8	30	+0.736 1'14.213	0.157	95.495
6	D. Cameron F. Nasr Porsche Penske Motorsport	7	Porsche 963	26	+0.947 1'14.424	0.211	95.224
7	T. van der Helm R. Westbrook JDC/Miller Motorsports	85	Porsche 963	27	+1.121 1'14.598	0.174	95.002
8	G. Bruni M. Rockenfeller Proton Competition	5	Porsche 963	33	+1.758 1'15.235	0.637	94.198
9	R. Taylor F. Albuquerque Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti	10	Acura ARX-06	23	+1.762 1'15.239	0.004	94.193
10	J. Taylor L. Deletraz Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti	40	Acura ARX-06	23	+1.809 1'15.286	0.047	94.134
11	O. Fidani M. Bell AWA	13	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD	29	+5.434 1'18.911	3.625	89.810
12	B. Barnicoat P. Thompson Vasser Sullivan	89	Lexus RC F GT3	28	+5.578 1'19.055	0.144	89.646
13	K. Marcelli D. Formal Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti	45	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	29	+5.673 1'19.150	0.095	89.538
14	F. Montecalvo J. Hawksworth Vasser Sullivan	12	Lexus RC F GT3	28	+5.676 1'19.153	0.003	89.535
15	B. Iribe F. Schandorff Inception Racing	70	McLaren 720S GT3 EVO	13	+5.721 1'19.198	0.045	89.484
16	R. Foley P. Gallagher Turner Motorsport	96	BMW M4 GT3	24	+5.726 1'19.203	0.005	89.478
17	A. Adelson E. Skeer Wright Motorsports	120	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	30	+5.733 1'19.210	0.007	89.471
18	M. Goikhberg L. Spinelli Forte Racing	78	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	28	+5.816 1'19.293	0.083	89.377
19	M. Skeen M. Grenier Korthoff/Preston Motorsports	32	Mercedes AMG GT3	14	+5.934 1'19.411	0.118	89.244
20	R. De Angelis S. Pumpelly Heart Of Racing Team	27	Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo	26	+5.941 1'19.418	0.007	89.236
21	M. Franco A. Costa Conquest Racing	34	Ferrari 296 GT3	27	+5.964 1'19.441	0.023	89.210
22	J. Andretti G. Chaves Andretti Motorsports	43	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	28	+5.968 1'19.445	0.004	89.206
23	R. Ward P. Ellis Winward Racing	57	Mercedes AMG GT3	29	+6.189 1'19.666	0.221	88.958
24	S. Monk S. McAleer Gradient Racing	66	Acura NSX GT3	28	+6.212 1'19.689	0.023	88.933
25	G. Levorato C. Lewis Proton Competition	55	Ford Mustang GT3	26	+6.278 1'19.755	0.066	88.859
26	K. Li A. Fjordbach MDK Motorsports	86	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	29	+6.574 1'20.051	0.296	88.531
27	E. Sabo A. Lee Flying Lizard Motorsports	28	Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo	32	+6.930 1'20.407	0.356	88.139
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